Adam Horowitz and Eddy Kitsis are producers and writers who have worked on a many TV series such as Felicity, Lost and Once Upon a Time.
They talk to us today about their new show Amazing Stories and their collaboration with Steven Spielberg.
Amazing Stories is available now on Apple TV+!
How did you get involved on this series?
Eddy: Just as Once Upon A Time was being announced that we were ending the show after 7 seasons, Adam and I were planning to take a break. We said we definitely weren’t going to be doing anything… but the first call we got was from Amblin. Their executives, Justin and Darryl, asked if we were interested in being the showrunners for Amazing Stories and working with Steven on the reboot for Apple, and we were immediately like “yes.” The minute we said yes, they put us on a phone call with Steven and we spent the next couple of years working on Amazing Stories.
Adam: So the “the break” turned out to be about five minutes long. But how could we turn do THAT opportunity? It was a lifelong dream to work with Steven.
What was the biggest challenge in re-imagining this cult anthology?
Adam: The biggest challenge was not so much in re-imagining the series, it was in working with Steven and realizing there is no higher bar than his. It was trying to make everything we did up to his standards while collaborating with arguably the greatest living director and storyteller in the business. That challenge was on our minds every moment during the process. It was something that pushed us and drove us to try and make every episode and story we made live up to the legacy of the brand that Steven started all those years ago.
Eddy: One of the other challenges was also just physically producing the episodes. It was like doing 5 pilots in one year. We quickly realized that every episode, you had to start from scratch. From every facet of production. From casting to production design, you name it. All of it was really the most challenging job we’ve ever had.
How did you collaborate with the different producers and directors?
Eddy: For us, television is a collaboration, so we loved this aspect of the show. Adam and I started in this business as a partnership – so we’ve be a “collaboration” since the beginning of our careers. What was great was working with all the talented directors and producers who would get our scripts and we would then just sit down and start talking about their thoughts on how to make it. A huge part of the fun was getting to work on 5 different subject matters and getting to work with 5 really fantastic directors who all brought something new and different and special to the show.
How did you choose and develop the different stories?
Adam: We ran the show like a traditional writer’s room. We had several different writer’s we’ve worked with, with all different kinds of voices and points of views and we would brainstorm ideas. Then, we would meet with Steven on a regular basis, and he would have ideas of his own. It was all a collaboration. Every idea that made it to air would be one we would eventually bring to Steven and discuss with him. It was a very thorough vetting process to get to the ideas that we all agreed we thought we should move forward with. Those ideas were the ones we would bring back to the writer’s room and work on and develop into stories and eventually into scripts and then finally move into production.
What were your main references and inspirations for the stories?
Eddy: Our main inspiration was Steven Spielberg, who for us is the reason we are in this business. We saw his movies and said ‘wow, we want to do that when we grow up.’ He is obviously our main inspiration, but one of the great things was that every episode was a blank page. You draw from everywhere like history, your own life, current events, other movies; it was limitless. We would draw inspiration from everywhere because it was really a limitless possibility.
Adam: And then we would take all the inspiration, and try to focus under the umbrella of a unifying idea – “what would an “Amazing Story” look like in today’s world?”
How did you divide the work between the two of you?
Eddy: We do everything together.
Adam: It’s not really a division, definitely a collaboration. We mostly sit in a room, or like now, given how the world is today, over the phone or some form of video conference, and work through everything together.
Where did you shoot the different episodes?
Eddy: We shot all of them in Atlanta.
What is your best memory during this production?
Eddy: It’s hard to say your best memory because there were so many.
Adam: For me, we had an amazing cast and crew and writers. Getting to work with all of those incredibly talented people was great, but it was working with Steven that sticks out. Having been able to collaborate with a hero of ours… to creatively have a back-and-forth with him? That was something we’ll treasure for the rest of our lives.
